1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to archery and more specifically to an assault rifle style mainframe barrel for a crossbow, which is directly received by a butt stock of an assault rifle.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Historically, archery bows and crossbows have been used for war, survival, sport, and recreation. A specific component of a shooting crossbow is the barrel. Various methods are known in the production of crossbow barrels, such as hollow extrusions, machined billet, injection molding and the like. While all of these methods work to some extent, all have significant issues with performance and/or assembly and cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,810,480 to Shepley discloses a crossbow wherein the upper and lower receiver of an assault rifle (AR) are coupled to a crossbow barrel and bow assembly. The AR style butt stock is slideably coupled to a tube, and the tube is then coupled to the receiver. The crossbow barrel is a separate piece, and it is coupled to the lower receiver. With this design, it takes multiple pieces and extensive tooling to achieve the desired design. U.S. Pat. No. 8,651,094 to Matasic discloses a crossbow with an AR style butt stock. Again, the AR style butt stock is slideably coupled to a tube, and the tube is then coupled to the rear of a string latch housing. The crossbow barrel is a separate piece, and it is coupled to the front of the string latch housing. With both of these designs, the tube that slideably couples the AR style butt stock and the crossbow barrel are on separate planes and parallel to each other. Though functional, these are complex and costly designs.
Accordingly, there is a clearly felt need in the art to provide an assault rifle style mainframe barrel for a crossbow, which is directly received by a butt stock of an assault rifle without the necessity of a costly adapter device.